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Canada
Canada is the second largest country in the world but has about the same population as the state of California, which is one-25th its size. This is because the north of Canada, with its harsh Arctic and sub-Arctic climates, is sparsely inhabited. Most Canadians live in the southern part of the country. More than three-quarters of them live in metropolitan areas, the largest of which are Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, Ottawa-Hull, and Edmonton. French and English are the official languages, and at one time most Canadians were of French or English descent. However, diversity increased with a wave of immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that brought in people from many other European nations. This trend continues on the eve of the 21st century: Canada is one of the few countries in the world that still have significant immigration programs. Since the 1970s most immigrants have come from Asia, increasing still further the diversity of the population. Canada’s prosperity and diversity have encouraged a variety of artistic pursuits. Most major cities have symphony orchestras, opera companies, classical and modern dance groups, and live theater. Canadian popular musicians have built highly successful careers both in Canada and in the world at large. Canadian writers have also gained worldwide recognition, as have painters, sculptors, film makers, and architects. To nurture Canadian arts, the government has imposed quotas on foreign content in Canadian media. Canada has impressive reserves of timber, minerals, and fresh water, and many of its industries are based on these resources. Many of its rivers have been harnessed for hydroelectric power, and it is self-sufficient in fossil fuel. Industrialization began in the 19th century and a significant manufacturing sector emerged, especially after World War II (1939-1945). Canada’s resource and manufacturing industries export about one-third of their output. Transportation equipment is the leading manufacturing industry. While Canada’s prosperity is built on the resource and manufacturing industries, most Canadians work in service occupations, including transportation, trade, finance, personal services, and government. Canada is a parliamentary democracy, and the federal, provincial, and territorial legislatures are all elected. However, Canada’s sovereign is a monarch, the queen of the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland. The queen is represented in Canada by the governor-general and ten lieutenant governors. Canada’s constitution guarantees equality under the law to all of its citizens. Powers of the federal and provincial governments are spelled out separately under the constitution, but over the past 50 years they have increasingly cooperated in programs that provide a wide range of social services—often called the "welfare state"—to the public. Canada’s indigenous peoples (original inhabitants) are often called First Nations or, incorrectly, Indians. The name Canada comes from a word meaning "village" or "community" in one of the indigenous Iroquoian languages. Indigenous peoples had developed complex societies and intricate political relations before the first Europeans, the Vikings, arrived in the 11th century. The Vikings soon left, but more Europeans came in the 16th century and were made welcome because they brought manufactured goods and traded them for furs and other native products. However, the Europeans settled down and gradually displaced the indigenous peoples over the next 250 years. This process of dispossession has left a legacy of legal and moral issues that Canadians are beginning to face. European settlers came in a series of waves. First were the French, followed by the English, and these two groups are considered the founding nations. France lost its part of the territory to Britain in a war in 1760, but most of the French-speaking colonists remained. Their effort to preserve their language and culture has been a continuing theme of Canadian history and has led in recent years to a movement to become independent of the rest of Canada. Modern Canada
was formed in an event that Canadians call Confederation, in 1867, when three colonies of
Britain merged to create a partially independent state of four provinces. Since then, six
more provinces and two territories have been added, with a third territory scheduled to
come into existence in 1999. Canada achieved full independence in 1931 but continues to
belong to the Commonwealth of Nations, a voluntary association of countries with ties to
the United Kingdom. Canada occupies nearly all of North America north of latitude 49° north and east of longitude 141° west. It has an area of 9,970,610 sq km (3,849,674 sq mi), of which 7.6 percent or 755,180 sq km (291,577 sq mi) is covered by fresh water such as rivers and lakes, including part of the Great Lakes. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean; on the northeast by Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, which separate it from Greenland; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the south by the United States; and on the west by the Pacific Ocean and Alaska. Cape Columbia, a promontory of Ellesmere Island, is the country’s northernmost point; the southernmost point, 4600 km (2900 mi) away, is Middle Island in Lake Erie. The easternmost and westernmost limits, which are separated by 5500 km (3400 mi), are respectively Cape Spear, Newfoundland, and the greater part of the border with Alaska. Long distances and a challenging physical environment make transportation and communication across the country very difficult. This reality has made it a challenge for Canadians to maintain a sense of nationhood.Six general landform regions are distinguishable in Canada: the Appalachian, Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence, Canadian Shield, Interior Plains, Cordillera, and Arctic Archipelago. Appalachian and Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Regions Eastern Canada consists of the Appalachian region and the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence lowlands. The Appalachian region embraces Newfoundland Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Québec. This region is an extension of the Appalachian mountain system (continuations of the Green Mountains of Vermont and the White Mountains of New Hampshire) and of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence region is a generally level plain that includes southern Québec and Ontario. This region has the largest expanse of good farmland in eastern and central Canada. The Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence region also contains the so-called manufacturing heartland of Canada, along the corridor from Windsor, Ontario, to Québec City. Ontario and Québec provinces together account for 77 percent of Canada’s employment and value added in manufacturing. Canadian Shield Also called the
Laurentian Plateau or just the Shield, this is the largest region, extending from Labrador
to Great Bear Lake, from the Arctic Ocean to the Thousand Islands in the Saint Lawrence
River, and into the United States west of Lake Superior and in northern New York. This
region of ancient granite rock is sparsely covered with soil and deeply eroded by glacial
action. It includes all of Labrador (the easternmost part of the mainland), most of
Québec, northern Ontario, Manitoba, Nunavut Territory, and part of the Northwest
Territories, with Hudson Bay in the center. The Arctic Archipelago is a collection of islands north of Hudson Bay and between the Beaufort Sea and Davis Strait. All but the southern tip of Baffin Island are above the Arctic Circle. The archipelago is a complex region including mountains, uplands, plateaus, and lowlands. There are three main subareas: the Innuitian region, the Shield territories, and the Arctic lowlands. The Innuitian region, in the far north, consists of the Queen Elizabeth Islands. The northernmost of these, Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands, are almost entirely mountainous and glacier covered. The Sverdrup Islands to the southwest are lowlands, forming a basin between the Queen Elizabeths and the plateaus of the Parry Islands. The second major part of the archipelago is an extension of the Canadian Shield and includes most of Baffin Island, Devon Island, part of Somerset Island, and the southeast tip of Ellesmere. This is mainly granite bedrock that has been uplifted and folded into mountains. The Arctic lowlands make up most of the remainder of the archipelago. These lowlands extend from the Arctic coastal plain in the far west through the interior lowlands of Banks Island. They include most of Victoria Island, Prince of Wales Island, and King William Island. The archipelago has a cold, dry Arctic climate. Much of the region is covered by glaciers or polar deserts composed of gravel and other unconsolidated material. The sparse vegetation is mainly lichens and mosses. The Canadian Shield, which occupies the eastern half of Canada’s landmass, is an ancient craton (stable continental platform). It is made of rocks that formed billions of years ago during the Precambrian Era of Earth history and includes granites, gneisses, and schists 2 to 4 billion years old. It became the nucleus of the North American crustal plate when Earth’s crust first experienced the tectonic forces that drive continental drift. In the Paleozoic era (about 570-240 million years ago), large parts of Canada were covered by shallow seas. Sediments deposited in these seas formed the sandstone, shale, and limestone that now surround the Shield. During the Cambrian and Silurian periods of the Paleozoic Era, layers of rocks were formed that appear as outcroppings in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland, along the Saint Lawrence valley, and on the shores of Lake Ontario. Flat beds of Paleozoic and younger rocks extend westward across the Interior Plains through the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. The rocks in these areas contain valuable deposits of oil and gas. In the Cordillera, the rocks were subjected to tectonic forces generated by the collision of the North American plate with the Pacific plate. In the ensuing upheavals, which began during the Cretaceous Period (about 138-65 million years ago), mountain ranges rose throughout the Cordillera. The easternmost of these ranges, the Rocky Mountains, run from Canada south through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. They were built by uplifting and folding of sedimentary rocks and, to a lesser degree, by volcanic activity. The strata composing them range in age from the Paleozoic Era to the Tertiary Period (about 65-1.6 million years ago) and contain valuable deposits of metals as well as fossil fuels. During the Pleistocene Epoch (about 1.6 million to 10,000 years ago), nearly all of Canada was covered by vast ice sheets that extended into the northern United States. As these ice sheets moved, they profoundly modified Canada’s landscapes, creating many thousands of lakes and extensive deposits of sand, clay, and gravel. Canada’s largest area of high-quality farmland is a formation of rich dark brown and black prairie, or grassland, soils that run from southern Manitoba west across Saskatchewan and into Alberta. The gray-brown soil of the Saint Lawrence valley and the Great Lakes is also good farmland. Only about 5 percent of Canada’s land is suitable for raising crops, however; the remainder is too mountainous, rocky, wet, or infertile. Large areas of Canada are covered by boggy peat that is characteristic of the tundra and adjoining forest areas. This land is generally infertile and frequently mossy. In the Arctic regions, most of the soil is classified as permafrost, meaning that at least 80 percent of the ground is permanently frozen. The freeze-thaw action that occurs in the more southern parts of the permafrost zone frequently causes so-called patterned ground features, such as polygonal rings of stones, ice wedges, and pingos (ice domes). Canada contains more lakes and inland waters than any other country in the world. In addition to the Great Lakes on the American border (all partly within Canada except Lake Michigan), the country has 31 lakes or reservoirs of about 1300 sq km (about 500 sq mi) in area. Canada’s two largest lakes are Lakes Superior and Huron, at 82,100 sq km (31,700 sq mi) and 59,600 sq km (23,000 sq mi) respectively. About one-third of Lake Superior is in Canada, and about three-fifths of Lake Huron. The largest lakes wholly within Canada are Great Bear, at 31,790 sq km (12,270 sq mi), and Great Slave, at 28,570 sq km (11,030 sq mi), both in the Northwest Territories. Each of these immense lakes is larger than either Lake Erie or Lake Ontario. Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, at 24,390 sq km (9417 sq mi), also compares in size with Lake Erie and is much larger than Lake Ontario. Other very large bodies of freshwater are Lake Athabaska and Reindeer Lake in Saskatchewan and the Smallwood Reservoir in Newfoundland. Also significant in size are Nettilling Lake on Baffin Island, Lakes Winnipegosis and Manitoba in Manitoba, Lake Nipigon and Lake of the Woods in Ontario, and Lake Melville in Newfoundland. Canada’s two greatest rivers are the Saint Lawrence, draining the Great Lakes and emptying into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and the Mackenzie, which empties into the Arctic Ocean and drains a large part of northwestern Canada. While the Saint Lawrence is the largest river in Canada in volume of water discharged at its mouth, the Mackenzie is the longest. Through its tributary, the Peace River, and tracing to its source in the Finlay River of British Columbia, the Mackenzie is 4241 km (2635 mi) long and is one of the longest rivers in the world. The Saint Lawrence and the Mackenzie are the second and third largest rivers by volume of discharge, respectively, in North America. Other large Canadian rivers in terms of both length and discharge are the Yukon, flowing from Yukon Territory across Alaska into the Bering Sea; the Nelson-Saskatchewan system, flowing across the Interior Plains into Hudson Bay; the Churchill, also flowing into Hudson Bay; and the Fraser and the Columbia in British Columbia. Other significant regional rivers are the St. John, emptying into the Bay of Fundy between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; the Churchill, in Newfoundland; and the many rivers flowing into the Saint Lawrence from the Shield, including the Ottawa, the Saguenay, and the Saint-Maurice. All these rivers are navigable for at least some of their length, but only the Saint Lawrence and Mackenzie are used for commercial navigation. In general, all
rivers and lakes in Canada have value as sources of water for agricultural, industrial,
urban, and recreational uses; but some have more specific commercial uses. The Saint
Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes together form an important transportation network for
eastern Canada, allowing oceangoing vessels to travel deep into the heartland. The Great
Lakes are used to transport bulk materials, such as grain and iron ore, and have been
important for the industrial development of the Saint Lawrence-Great Lakes region. Many of
the rivers emptying into the Saint Lawrence are also important producers of hydroelectric
power. In contrast, the rivers of the Arctic drainage basin have little commercial
importance. Although the Mackenzie is navigable for most of its length and has been used
for transportation, its isolation limits its usefulness. The rivers draining into Hudson
Bay are important primarily as power sources, particularly the Nelson in northern Manitoba
and the La Grande in northern Québec. The fast-flowing rivers draining into the Pacific,
such as the Fraser, are particularly suitable for power generation. They are also crucial
for the salmon fishing industry, but these two uses are not compatible. For this reason,
hydroelectric development has been prohibited on the Fraser. Because of its size, Canada has a great variety of climatic conditions. Part of the mainland and most of the Arctic Archipelago are within the earth’s north frigid zone; the remainder of the country lies in the northern half of the north temperate zone. Climatic conditions range from the extreme cold of the Arctic regions to the moderate temperatures of more southerly latitudes. Average summer temperatures range from 8° C (46° F) in the far north to more than 22° C (72° F) in some parts of the far south. Average January temperatures range from -35° C (-31° F) in the far north to 3° C (37° F) in southwestern British Columbia. Similarly, precipitation ranges from near-desert conditions of less than 300 mm (12 in) per year in the far north to very wet conditions of more than 2400 mm (more than 90 in) in parts of the west coast. Thus we cannot speak of a single Canadian climate, but rather of several regional climates. In the Atlantic provinces, the ocean lessens the extremes of winter cold and summer heat but also causes considerable fog and precipitation. The Pacific coast, which is influenced by warm ocean currents and moisture-laden winds, has mild summers and winters, high humidity, and abundant precipitation. In the Cordillera, the higher western slopes of certain uplifts, particularly the Selkirks and the Rockies, receive sizable amounts of rain and snow. The eastern slopes and the central plateau receive little precipitation. In the eastern Cordillera, the chinook, a warm, dry westerly wind, makes winters substantially less severe in the Rocky Mountain foothills and adjoining plains. The Prairie Provinces (Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan) are marked by the most extreme ranges of summer heat and winter cold in Canada. Eastern Canada (Ontario and Québec), which also has great variations in heat and cold, is the snowiest region in Canada. Climate has been a factor in the development of Canada because people have settled where temperatures are warmest and agricultural growing seasons longest. Climate also influences vegetation, producing, for example, the rain forest of coastal British Columbia. Southern Ontario and southwestern British Columbia have the mildest climates and greatest population densities in Canada. In contrast, the central and northern regions are sparsely populated. The permafrost region in the north poses great challenges for settlement and development. Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories, the Nunavut Territory, northern Québec and Labrador, and the far northern areas of Ontario and Manitoba are all affected by this condition. Houses, roads, runways, and pipelines require special, expensive adaptations. Water and sewage lines are especially troublesome to maintain. Permafrost also makes mining and other forms of development more difficult and environmentally damaging. Disruption of the environment through development can induce thermokarst, the formation of thaw lakes into which buildings can sink. The flora of the entire northern part of Canada is Arctic and sub-Arctic (seeTundra). The tree line—the northern limit beyond which trees cannot grow—extends roughly from the mouth of the Mackenzie River to Hudson Bay, just north of Manitoba’s northern border, and continues east from Hudson Bay at approximately 58° north. The tree line is simultaneously a climatic, soil, vegetation, and cultural boundary. It divides the zone of Arctic climate and permafrost, which is the traditional homeland of the Inuit, from the sub-Arctic zone of intermittent permafrost and stunted forest, which was the northern limit of the Athapaskan and Algonquian peoples. South of the tree line, eastern Canada was originally thickly forested, primarily with coniferous trees. The typical vegetation of southern Ontario, southern Québec, and the Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) is mixed coniferous and deciduous forest. The only part of Canada dominated by deciduous forest is southernmost Ontario, bordering Lakes Erie and Ontario. Point Pelee on Lake Erie, at roughly the same latitude as the northern border of California, is known for its variety of deciduous trees, including southern species found nowhere else in Canada, such as the Kentucky coffee tree. The Prairie Provinces are largely treeless as far north as the Saskatchewan River system; prairie grasses, herbage, and bunchgrasses are the chief vegetation. Short grasses dominate the dry belt known as Palliser’s Triangle in the southeast portion of the prairie region; an arc of tall grass extends north and west, and this is in turn surrounded by parkland, or mixed grass and mainly deciduous forest. North of the Saskatchewan River is a broad belt of conifers known as the boreal forest. This belt includes Newfoundland, the regions south and east of Hudson Bay, and lands extending westward to the Rocky Mountains. Spruce, tamarack, and poplar are the principal species. The dry slopes and valleys of the Rocky Mountains support thin forests, mainly pine, but the forests increase in density and the trees in size westward toward the region of greater rainfall. On the coastal ranges, especially on their western slopes, are dense forests of mighty conifers, principally spruce, hemlock, Douglas and balsam firs, jack and lodgepole pines, and cedar. Canada’s extensive coniferous forests constitute the plant life that is most important to its economy. This living resource provides valuable raw products, manufactured products, and thousands of jobs. The coastal and interior forests of British Columbia are particularly valuable, and that province provides 46.6 percent of all wood harvested in Canada. The smaller trees of the boreal forest are used across Canada for pulp and paper. The southeastern mixed zone in the Maritimes also supports a lumber industry. The natural vegetation of Canada also has commercial value as a tourist attraction. The animals of Canada are similar to those of northern Europe and Asia. Among the carnivores are several species of the weasel family, such as the ermine, sable, fisher, wolverine, and mink. Other representative carnivores are the black bear, brown bear, lynx, wolf, coyote, fox, and skunk. The polar bear is distributed throughout the Arctic; the puma is found in British Columbia. Of the rodents, the most characteristic is the beaver. The porcupine, the muskrat, and many smaller rodents are numerous, as are hares. Gophers are found in the Interior Plains. Several varieties of Virginia deer are native to southern Canada; the black-tailed deer occurs in British Columbia and parts of the Interior Plains. This region is also the habitat of the pronghorn antelope. The woodland caribou and the moose are numerous and widely distributed, but the Barren Ground caribou is found only in the far north, which is also the habitat of the musk ox. Elk and bison (often called buffalo) are found in various western areas. Bighorn sheep and Rocky Mountain goats are numerous in the British Columbia mountains. Birds are abundant and diverse, and fish are numerous in all the inland waters and along all the coasts. Reptiles and insects are scarce except in the far south. Many animal species are threatened with extinction as urban, agricultural, and industrial uses envelop and pollute natural environments. Some species have already been lost, such as the passenger pigeon, the sea mink, and the Dawson caribou. Among the endangered animals are the beluga (white whale) and the spotted owl. Furthermore, some animals are threatened by illegal hunting; for example, an illegal market in bear parts used in some Asian medicines has had a severe impact on black and grizzly bear populations. In contrast, some of Canada’s animals have adapted very well to new environments and have become so numerous as to be considered pests in some areas. Others have been brought back from the brink of extinction by conservation efforts. Except for fish, native animals are no longer of much economic importance in Canada. Although beaver, bison, sea otter, and whale were once hunted to virtual extinction, they are now largely ignored. Canada still has a fur industry, but the demand for furs has lessened substantially. Hunting for sport, however, generates a certain amount of income across Canada. Also, a growing number of people participate in other recreations related to wildlife, such as bird-watching, whale watching, and nature photography; all of these generate jobs and income. Canada is richly endowed with valuable natural resources that are commercially indispensable to the economy. Most are specific to one region or another; for this reason separate resource-based economies have tended to develop across Canada. The country has enormous areas of fertile, low-lying land in the Prairie Provinces and bordering the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River. Profitable agricultural economies have developed in both of these regions. Canadian forests cover 26 percent of the country’s land area and abound in commercially valuable stands of timber, especially in British Columbia, Québec, northern Ontario, the northern Prairie provinces, and the Maritimes. Canada’s extensive mineral resources provide valuable exports and also supply domestic industries. Five of the country’s six major regions contribute to these resources. The Québec portion of the Appalachian region has the world’s largest reserves of asbestos, along with deposits of copper and zinc. The Canadian Shield is a rich source of metals such as nickel, copper, gold, uranium, silver, aluminum, and zinc. Minerals from the Shield helped fuel the manufacturing development of southern Ontario and Québec. The Interior Plains region is rich in reserves of crude petroleum and natural gas; these are concentrated in the Prairie provinces, particularly in Alberta. These fuel deposits are responsible for the dynamic energy-producing economy of these provinces. The Interior Plains region also has deposits of nonfuels, such as potash, gypsum, and salt. The western Cordillera provides copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, and asbestos, and the Arctic Archipelago provides zinc and lead. Increasingly important to the mining industry, the Arctic Archipelago features the world’s northernmost base metal mine, the Polaris mine, on Little Cornwallis Island. The river and lake systems of the country combine with topography to make hydroelectric energy one of the permanent natural assets of Canada. Here British Columbia and the Shield provinces are particularly well endowed. As with other natural resources, much of the energy is exported. The wildlife of the country is extensive and varied and attracts tourists from around the world, but it is the fish stocks that have the greatest economic value. The cod stocks off the eastern coast provided export revenue and livelihoods for Atlantic Canadians for centuries. Although this fishery was shut down in 1993 because cod stocks were depleted, there have been some signs of recovery and the fishery was partially reopened in 1997. Other edible fish and shellfish are present in Atlantic coastal waters but do not have the commercial value of cod. In the Pacific region, the various salmon species are the most important fish resource, although many other varieties of fish and shellfish are also economically significant. Finally, freshwater fish in Canada’s numerous lakes and rivers are a source of food and revenue for many local communities. The Canadian environment is being altered by many human activities. The growth of industries and urban areas has caused air quality to decline, raising concerns among many people about the effects of fossil fuel use, acid rain, and global warming. Urban growth has reduced agricultural lands and has become a major issue near large urban centers, especially in the Windsor-Montréal corridor of Ontario and Québec and in the Fraser River valley adjoining Vancouver. Waste management in urban areas is also a growing environmental problem, and many communities are having problems siting waste facilities and reducing the volume of waste generated. Outside cities, agriculture, forestry, fishery, hydroelectric development, and mining have increasingly met with controversy over their effects on environmental quality and loss of wilderness areas. In agriculture, global competition has intensified, leading to lower prices for many agricultural products. Farmers have tried to stay competitive by adopting practices, such as the use of chemical fertilizers, that degrade the natural resource base. In other resource industries, notably forestry and fishing, concern has been expressed that historical and current rates of extraction threaten the viability of the resources. Thus government resource management policies are under more scrutiny than ever before. Since the 1970s the federal and provincial governments have required an environmental impact assessment for new projects, such as mines, pulp and paper mills, and irrigation projects. At first these reviews were not very demanding and were not universally applied, but they became more stringent over time. Finally, in January 1995, federal law made such reviews universal. This legislation mandates that all projects on federal land, using federal funds, or run by federal agencies must bemust be reviewed to determine their impact on the environment. Most provinces now have legislation requiring environmental assessments of projects within their jurisdiction. Increasingly, federal and provincial governments have adopted the concept of sustainable development as a standard. Sustainable development has been defined by the World Commission on Resources and Development to mean development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations. The World Commission, an organization of 21 countries, including Canada, was sponsored by the United Nations. In 1987 it produced an influential report, Our Common Future, on environment and economic development. Two of the report’s recommendations in particular were taken up by Canada: establishing round tables (policy groups of people with diverse backgrounds) and increasing the amount of protected land. The federal government and most provincial governments established round tables on the economy and the environment. In 1990 the federal government established the Green Plan, which emphasized more monitoring of the environment, tighter environmental regulations, and the restoration of damaged areas, and set a goal of protecting 12 percent of the country’s land by placing it in parks, special resource management zones, ecological reserves, and other designations. Most ministries dealing with land and resources are continuing to emphasize sustainable development. The provinces, which control most of Canada’s public land, are protecting more of it. Many provinces have made a commitment to increase their allocation of land for parks, wildlife reserves, and other ecosystem protection zones. In British Columbia, for instance, the proportion of protected public land doubled, from 6 percent to the goal of 12 percent, between 1987 and 1997. Decisions to protect more land have frequently pitted urban-based environmental activists against rural communities whose residents rely on the resources that will be protected. As people have become more concerned about protecting the environment, policy makers have begun to make decisions about resource management by considering both the needs of human activities and those of ecosystems. In Ontario, remedial action plans have been established to clean up many of the hazards of industrial pollution in the Great Lakes. Decisions on management of resources have often led to political conflict and lawsuits. Recently, alternative methods of resolving these conflicts outside the courts have been promoted. One method has been mediation, in which an intermediary helps the opposing sides resolve a problem. Mediation was used in 1994 to resolve environmental and socioeconomic issues raised by a small-craft harbor that was proposed for Sandspit, British Columbia. In Ontario, a joint agency was set up to make recommendations to the provincial government on land allocation and resource management in the Temagami region, north of Toronto. The agency included representatives of government, indigenous peoples, and the general public. In several provinces the process for making decisions about resources has been broadened to include different groups of people. In part, this is the result of indigenous peoples’ demands for more input into the process, but it also reflects demands by the public in general to be included in decisions that directly affect them. The trend is particularly strong in fisheries, forestry, and wildlife management. For example, local communities are becoming more involved in forest management through programs such as the Community Forests Initiative in Ontario and Forest Renewal BC in British Columbia. In addition, several provinces have begun forestry education programs for indigenous peoples and have sought ways, including shared management of public lands, to increase indigenous involvement in forest and land management. Licenses for sport fishing are usually distributed by the provincial or territorial governments, which retain the revenue collected. Many provinces put these revenues into fish conservation projects. The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans is responsible for regulating, developing, and conserving Canada’s commercial fisheries, although it delegates part of the management of freshwater fisheries to the provinces through federal-provincial agreements. The department also conducts research and represents Canada in international agreements on fisheries management and marine research. There are management problems involving other countries on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. In the international waters of the Atlantic, fisheries are regulated by an international body called the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), whose 16 member states include Canada, the United States, and the European Union (EU). Disputes involving NAFO are worked out in international negotiations and through the United Nations. Canada controls fishing within 200 nautical miles (230 mi/370 km) of its shores, and NAFO recognizes Canada’s right to enforce its regulations to protect fish stocks that are partly within and partly outside this limit. Not all countries respect this right, however, and international tensions sometimes flare. One incident occurred in 1995, when Canadian officials boarded a Spanish fishing boat and charged the captain with fishing for turbot using gear that was illegal under Canadian law. The outcome was that NAFO barred the EU (of which Spain is a member) from fishing for turbot in those waters and set the EU’s catch limit for turbot at much less than it requested. On the Pacific coast, salmon spawned in Canadian streams are caught by American fishing boats and also as an incidental (unintentional) catch in trawl nets and drift nets operated by Japanese, Koreans, and Taiwanese. Issues between Canada and the United States are dealt with under the Canada-United States Pacific Salmon Treaty, signed in 1980. The two nations, however, have not always agreed on how the treaty should be implemented. Issues with other nations are handled through an international organization, the North Pacific Anadromous Fisheries Commission, which promotes the conservation of salmon and other anadromous fish (fish that migrate between rivers and the ocean) on the high seas. Trade sanctions are applied to countries that break its rules. Controversy has also surrounded the Atlantic seal fishery. Protesters from several nations objected to the harvesting of harp seal pups, which they charged was done in a cruel manner. It was banned in the 1980s, and today only adult harp seals are harvested. The federal government owns about 95 million hectares (about 235 million acres) of forest, but most of this land is in the Yukon Territory, the Nunavut Territory, or the Northwest Territories and is unsuitable for commercial timber production. The provinces own 296 million hectares (731 million acres) or 87 percent of the forests south of latitude 60° north (the northern border of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba). The remaining 13 percent is reserved for national parks or held privately. The provinces are responsible for managing their public lands and the timber on those lands. Increasingly, policy makers are recognizing the intangible benefits of forests. These include recreational pursuits such as park visitation, bird-watching, nature photography, hunting, hiking, and canoeing. Forests are also recognized as important reserves of scientific information and habitats for wildlife, as well as important to water and soil conservation, air quality improvement, and maintenance of biological diversity (including both genetic diversity and ecosystem diversity). In recognition of these benefits, commercial logging is not permitted on about 4 percent of the productive forestland; this land is set aside in parks and other reserves. Several provinces have made commitments to set aside more forested lands in parks and reserves. Reforestation efforts in Canada have increased nearly 2.5 times since the 1970s. The area planted and seeded went up from 211,000 hectares (521,000 acres) in 1980 to 505,000 hectares (1,248,000 acres) in 1991. In 1991 Québec and British Columbia planted 209 million and 230 million trees respectively, while Ontario planted nearly 150 million. Wildlife is an important component of the Canadian heritage. More than 90 percent of Canadians participate in wildlife-related activities, such as nature photography, wildlife watching, bird feeding, hunting, fishing, and subsistence use. In addition, many visitors come to Canada to view wildlife, especially birds and large mammals. Canada still has important wildlife populations, including a large proportion of the world’s stock of mountain sheep, wolves, and grizzly bears, but many animal populations have shrunk or even disappeared. These losses are due in part to overhunting in the days before hunting restrictions, and in part to habitat loss, which continues to this day. Agriculture, forestry, and urbanization change the landscape, reducing some important habitats and creating new ones. Wildlife is a natural resource and therefore falls under provincial jurisdiction. However, the Canada Wildlife Act of 1973 enables the federal government to work with the provinces on wildlife conservation and research. It gives the federal government special responsibilities to protect and manage marine species and certain migratory birds, and to conserve wildlife and habitat of national or international importance. Endangered species and those that migrate across provincial or national boundaries are covered by the act, as are wetlands that provide waterfowl habitat. The federal Canadian Wildlife Service works with provincial wildlife agencies to establish annual revisions of hunting seasons and catch limits, undertake ecological research, coordinate national efforts to protect wildlife and habitat, and manage wildlife areas and bird sanctuaries. In addition, some indigenous peoples have a special interest in wildlife, largely because it is important to their way of life. Contemporary treaties, covering most of the Yukon and Northwest Territories, have provided indigenous peoples with a direct say in wildlife management in Canada’s north. Canada is a federation, where governmental powers are divided between the central or federal government and the provincial and territorial governments. Territories have less autonomy from the federal government than provinces have. Canada is governed under the constitution of 1982, which gathered the previous constitutional acts into a single framework and added a charter of rights and freedoms. It also provided for what Canadians call "patriation"—giving the Canadian government total authority over its own constitution. Previously, the British North America Act of 1867 and subsequent laws had given the British government some authority over Canada’s constitution. With the exception of electoral officers and individuals convicted of a crime, all Canadian citizens over the age of 18 are eligible to vote and to run in elections. They must be resident in the riding (electoral district) where they cast their ballot. Voter turnout for general elections is quite high; in 1993 just under 70 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, and in 1984 the turnout was 76 percent, compared to 54 percent in the United States. The head of state is the monarch of Britain, who is represented in Canada by the governor-general, who has no political power. The chief executive is the prime minister, who is answerable to a legislature (Parliament). Parliament is answerable to the citizens at elections that are held, at most, five years apart. Judges are appointed by the federal and provincial governments. Traditionally there have been two dominant national political parties, the Liberal Party and the Progressive Conservative Party. They stand for the liberal and conservative sides, respectively, of political thought, although their positions have varied widely. Each has a counterpart in provincial government, but these are loosely connected and may differ with the national party on major issues. The two parties were of comparable strength, with one forming the government and the other the official opposition in Parliament, until 1993. In that year the Progressive Conservatives were defeated so resoundingly that their future was in doubt. A sectional party, the Bloc Québécois of Québec, won the second highest number of seats in Parliament and became the official opposition. In 1997 they were replaced in that role by another sectional party, the Reform Party, all of whose strength was in the west. Since World War II, the federal government has greatly increased the social services, such as subsidized medical care, pensions, and family allowances, that it provides its citizens. The provincial governments have generally cooperated, but not without fear that the traditional powers exercised by the provinces are being eroded. That fear is especially great in Québec, where it is compounded by fear of domination by the English-speaking majority of the country. In
foreign policy, Canada was allied with the non-Communist powers during the period of world
tension called the Cold War and contributed troops to the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO), an alliance formed to counter the threat of Communist aggression.
However, Canada has not aspired to be a major military power. A strong supporter of the
United Nations, it devotes its military largely to providing peacekeeping forces for that
body in hot spots around the world. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, added to the constitution in 1982, guarantees to citizens fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of conscience and the press. It also guarantees the right to vote and seek election, as well as rights to move throughout Canada, to enjoy security of person, and to combat discrimination. It also specifies the equality of the French and English languages. The charter changed the Canadian political system by enhancing the power of the courts to make or unmake laws through judicial decisions. It also contains the so-called notwithstanding clause, which allows Parliament or the provincial legislatures to designate an act operative even though it might clash with a charter provision. The charter applies uniformly throughout Canada although the province of Québec has never signed the constitution. The head of state in Canada is the sovereign of Britain, who is represented in Canada by the governor-general and in each province by a lieutenant governor. The governor-general is appointed by the reigning monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister of Canada. Traditionally, English-speakers alternate with French-speakers as governor-general. The length of term is usually five years. The governor-general’s role is largely ceremonial; he or she summons, suspends, and dissolves Parliament, gives royal assent to bills that have passed Parliament, authorizes treaties, commissions officers in the armed forces, gives honors such as the Order of Canada, and acts as host to visiting heads of state. He or she has the constitutional right to be consulted and to give advice and thus receives regular visits from the prime minister and government officials. Officially the governor-general appoints the prime minister and swears in cabinet ministers, but he or she must adhere to the advice of the majority in the House of Commons (the larger chamber of Parliament) in appointing the prime minister and must follow the prime minister’s wishes in appointing the cabinet. While holding no political power, the governor-general has considerable symbolic power. As the governor-general is above politics, the post serves as a unifying symbol for all Canadians. The Canadian Parliament consists of two houses, the Senate and the House of Commons. Commons contains about three times as many members as the Senate. The prime minister and cabinet are chosen from Commons by the majority party. The executive head of government is the prime minister, the leader of the party in control of Parliament. Canada’s parliamentary system is modeled on that of Britain, where the prime minister must be elected from a local riding (electoral district) like any other member of the House of Commons. The prime minister derives his or her executive position by being head of the party, which in nearly all cases votes as a bloc. This is unlike the American system, for example, where the chief executive (the president) is elected separately. In cases where no one party has a majority in Commons, the governor-general chooses the leader most likely to win support from other parties. If a prime minister resigns as leader of the party before an election, the new party leader automatically becomes prime minister until an election can be held. The responsibilities and powers of the prime minister are far reaching. He or she sets the policy of the government and determines what legislation should be passed. Through the cabinet, he or she controls all the functions of the federal government, including budget allocations. The prime minister chooses the cabinet ministers and also recommends appointees to the civil service, Senate, and judiciary. The length of term of the prime minister is at most five years, but he or she generally calls an election before then. There is no restriction on the number of terms a prime minister may serve; William Lyon Mackenzie King was prime minister for 13 consecutive years and served two other separate terms. The prime minister may, however, be removed by a vote of no confidence in Parliament—that is, a declaration by the majority of the members that they no longer support him or her. A no-confidence vote forces the prime minister to either resign or call a general election. The cabinet consists of as many as 40 members, most of whom are ministers presiding over the various departments of the federal government, such as finance, immigration, labor, or health. They are supported by civil servants headed by a deputy minister. Some members of the cabinet may be ministers without portfolio, who are not assigned to a department. Although they have no formal legal power, cabinet ministers exercise considerable authority to make and enforce regulations in their various departments through orders issued by the governor-general. A party generally selects its cabinet from its members sitting in Commons, but if there are not enough who are qualified, it may also draw them from its members in the Senate. The members of the Senate are appointed, nominally by the governor-general but in effect by the prime minister. Once appointed, a senator may stay in office until age 75. Appointment to the Senate is considered an honor and is frequently granted for political service in the national or provincial government. To be appointed, a senator must own a certain amount of property, be over the age of 30, and reside in the province he or she represents. Senators are appointed on the principle of regional representation. Thus there are 24 senators from Québec, 24 from Ontario, 24 from the Maritimes, and 24 from the western provinces. Newfoundland has been allotted 6 senators while the Yukon and Northwest Territories each have 1. This makes a total of 104, but four more or eight more can be added under exceptional circumstances as long as they are drawn equally from the first four regions. The Canadian Senate is more closely related in function to the British House of Lords than to the U.S. Senate. It has the power to initiate legislation, except for finance bills, but mainly acts as the chamber of "sober second thought," scrutinizing the legislation initiated in the House of Commons. It has the right to amend or delay passage of bills passed by Commons. It also has the power to veto bills but rarely exercises it. Another important function of the Senate is the Special Senate Committee, through which social and economic issues important to the country are thoroughly investigated, often leading to changes in government policy. Members of Commons are directly elected by the Canadian voters. There is no uniform interval between national, or general, elections, but by law they must be held at least once every five years. Each province and territory is divided into ridings, and each riding elects one member. The total number of seats is reapportioned periodically on the basis of the national census. Each riding contains, on the average, about 100,000 voters. The reapportionment after the census of 1986 fixed the membership at 295. Ontario has 99 members, Québec 75, British Columbia 32, Alberta 26, Saskatchewan 14, Manitoba 14, Nova Scotia 11, New Brunswick 10, Newfoundland and Labrador 7, Prince Edward Island 4, Northwest Territories 2, and Yukon Territory 1. When a seat becomes vacant between general elections, a by-election is held in that riding to fill that seat. To qualify for election to the House of Commons, a candidate must be a Canadian citizen and at least 18 years of age. But, unless running as an independent, a candidate must go through a nomination process at the party level first. A candidate or member does not have to live in the riding he or she represents, but most do. In practice, Commons is the key legislative branch, where most important bills are introduced; all money bills must originate in Commons. The prime minister and most of the cabinet are members of Commons. Tradition decrees that if a government loses the support of a majority of Commons, it must surrender power or call a general election. Therefore, members of the party in power rarely vote against government policies. Dissent within the party is expressed in private meetings or party caucuses, but the party usually presents a solid front in Parliament. All political parties in the House of Commons that do not support the government are known collectively as the opposition. The minority party with the most seats in Commons is known as the Official Opposition and has special privileges. The leader of the Official Opposition is one of the most important and visible figures in the House of Commons. In the Canadian parliamentary system it is the duty of the opposition to oppose the party in power. Government programs and bills submitted to Parliament are subject to close scrutiny and criticism by members of the opposition. The prime minister and his cabinet must be ready at all times to explain and defend the government’s program or actions to the opposition. The legal system in Canada is derived from English common law, except in Québec, which has a civil-law system based on the Code Napoléon, which has been the basis of French law since 1804. The federal judiciary is headed by the Supreme Court of Canada, made up of a chief justice and eight associate judges, three of whom must come from Québec. It sits in Ottawa and is the final Canadian court of appeal for all civil, criminal, and constitutional cases. The next highest tribunal, the Federal Court of Canada, is divided into a Trial Division and an Appeal Division. It hears a variety of cases, including those involving claims against the federal government. Provincial courts are established by the provincial legislatures and, although the names of the courts are not uniform, each province has a similar three-part court system. Judges of the Supreme Court and the Federal Court and almost all judges of the higher provincial courts are appointed by the federal government. Canada comprises ten provinces, each with a separate legislature and administration. The government of each province is similar in structure and function to that of the national government. The monarch is represented in each province by a lieutenant governor, who is appointed by the governor-general on the recommendation of the prime minister. The functions of the lieutenant governor, like those of the governor-general, are primarily ceremonial. Each province except Québec has a unicameral, or single-chamber, legislature, called the legislative or provincial assembly. It is elected at least once every five years but may be dissolved at any time. The provincial legislature functions in much the same way as the House of Commons. Québec has a bicameral, or two-chamber, legislature called the National Assembly. Québec’s appointed upper house, called a legislative council, is similar to the federal Senate. The head of the provincial government is the premier, who is appointed by the lieutenant governor after his or her party wins a general election. The premier’s role is similar to that of the prime minister in Ottawa. He or she must be able to control a majority in the legislature. The premier appoints an executive council, or cabinet, whose members must be members of the legislative assembly and serve as heads of provincial departments. They function in provincial affairs as cabinet members do in national affairs. The Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories are administered by Ottawa through the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. The chief executives are commissioners, appointed by the federal government and assisted by local councils. The commissioner for the Northwest Territories resides at Yellowknife, and the commissioner for the Yukon at Whitehorse. The Yukon Territory has an elected legislative council. The council for the Northwest Territories is composed of both elected and appointed members; the majority are elected. In both territories the commissioner and council have legislative powers similar to those of provincial governments. A few areas of government, such as natural resources, are still controlled by Ottawa. The commissioner of each territory acts according to instructions from the federal cabinet or the minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. A third territory is in the process of being created. It will be created by dividing the Northwest Territories and will encompass about 2 million sq km (about 772,000 sq mi) of the eastern Arctic. Called Nunavut, it will have its own government by 1999, similar to the other territories. This will be the only large jurisdiction in North America with a majority of indigenous people and therefore will in effect constitute indigenous self-government. The strongest national political parties in Canada during the 20th century have been the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals. The third party with a tradition of national support is the New Democratic Party (NDP). The Progressive Conservatives have generally favored an unfettered market, fiscal responsibility, and limits on state power. The Liberals are generally associated with the center of the political spectrum, which means that they advocate greater government involvement in the economy; they have also been traditionally seen as the party most open to immigration. The smaller NDP, which emerged from Canadian labor and protest movements, supports programs to increase social and economic equality. The NDP claims to represent ordinary people. Although never achieving national power, the NDP has from time to time held the balance of power and used it to support the Liberals; it has also formed the provincial government at various times in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. In the 1993 election only the Liberals maintained their political base, while the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP waned in significance. Two new parties have arisen that have cut into their traditional support. The Bloc Québécois (BQ) was formed to protect Québec interests and promote Québec sovereignty. It acts to a large extent as the federal arm of the provincial separatist party, the Parti Québécois. The BQ has no support outside Québec and no desire to form the government. To its own surprise, the collapse of the Progressive Conservatives and NDP in 1993 left it in the position of the official opposition. Its original leader, Lucien Bouchard, left the party to become the premier of Québec. The BQ will cease to exist if Québec gains independence; it will likewise decline if serious interest in Québec separatism disappears. In contrast, the Reform Party, originally an expression of western dissatisfaction with federal control, has come to express right-wing conservative ideals. It supports reducing taxes and governmental functions, and opposes concessions to Québec. So far, the Reform Party has been unable to attract voters from central or eastern Canada. In the 1997 election it increased its standing in the west, replacing the Bloc Québécois as the official opposition. All levels of government share the responsibility for social welfare in Canada. The chief federal agencies responsible for social service programs are Health and Welfare Canada and Human Resources Development Canada. The latter agency administers comprehensive income maintenance programs, such as the national pensions, old age security, and unemployment insurance. Nationwide coordination is considered to be necessary for these programs. Ottawa also provides services for indigenous peoples and veterans. In addition, Ottawa provides block grants to provincial governments to help cover their expenditures in health, education, and public assistance. Ottawa spent C$57.3 billion on social services and another C$8.3 billion on health care in the fiscal year 1995 to 1996. This represented 7.3 and 1.1 percent of GDP, respectively. The Child Tax Benefit, Employment Insurance, the Canada Pension Plan, and the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) program are the chief forms of federal welfare service. The Child Tax Benefit is a monthly stipend paid to low and modest-income families with children to help cover the costs of child maintenance. Employment Insurance provides income for up to a year, in the event of job loss, to workers who receive a salary or an hourly wage. The Canada Pension Plan supplies retirement and disability income and survivors’ benefits to older workers, keyed to the amount of their lifetime earnings. It is supplemented by Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement, which are paid to people over 65 regardless of how much they earned. The CHST program provides money to the provinces to administer programs for help with postsecondary education and for support of families that lack enough income to live on. The administration of welfare services is mainly the responsibility of the provinces. Municipalities and other local entities actually provide the services, generally with financial aid from the province. Provincial governments also have the major responsibility for education and health in Canada, with municipalities assuming authority over matters delegated to them by provincial legislation. The provinces spend about 25 percent of their budgets on health and about 18 percent on social services. State-funded medical health insurance was first enacted in Saskatchewan in 1947 by the provincial government. A national system was established with the Medical Care Act of 1966, committing Ottawa to contribute about half the cost of the Medical Care Insurance Program (Medicare), with the respective province contributing the remainder. Administered by Health and Welfare Canada, the program stipulates the following minimum criteria: (1) comprehensive coverage, to cover all medically required services rendered by physicians and surgeons; (2) universal availability to all residents; (3) portability, to cover temporary or permanent change in residence to another province or territory; and (4) nonprofit operation. In the face of mounting public debt, Ottawa has reduced its share of the funding, but the basic system remains intact. Private health insurance companies also operate in Canada, providing coverage for services beyond the regular system, such as ambulance fees and private hospital rooms. Canada’s health system has successfully provided health services to all people regardless of income for many decades. Canada’s infant mortality rate, at 6 per 1000, is one of the lowest in the world. Vaccination programs have brought diseases such as polio under control. Canadians have one of the highest life expectancies in the world and a generally high level of health throughout their lives. Most Canadians consider medicare a sacred trust. The incidence of most diseases in Canada is similar to that in other developed countries. The leading causes of death in 1993 were: heart disease, 27.8 percent; cancer, 27.4 percent; and cerebrovascular diseases, 7.5 percent. There are no diseases unique to Canada. Infectious diseases are fairly rare, and incidence varies between socioeconomic groups. Tuberculosis, for example, once thought to be under control in Canada, is now widespread in indigenous communities. Attention also has focused on AIDS in recent years. The first known case in Canada was recorded in 1979; between then and July 1996 there were 13,810 documented cases and 9969 deaths. In the early 1990s about 1000 new cases were reported annually. The death rate of individuals with AIDS has declined dramatically in the past few years as new medications have been introduced. However, the health system in the 1990s is being squeezed on the one hand by rising costs of delivery and on the other by reductions in funding from both Ottawa and the provinces. Costs are increasing for a variety of reasons: an aging population, increasing poverty, higher expectations for health services, population growth in some provinces and cities, intractable diseases such as cancer, new ones such as AIDS, and more expensive treatment procedures. Governments concerned with deficit reduction are looking for ways to reduce costs; user fees for certain services, billing for extra physician visits, and private clinics have been suggested. Canadians are worried, however, about creating a two-tier system where the wealthy would have better access to care than the poor. As a state of 30 million, Canada is unlikely to be a central military power. A special joint Senate and Commons committee reaffirmed in 1994 that Canada’s existing defense policy is to oversee and protect Canada, survey and control Canadian air space and coastal waters, and participate in multinational security operations. About 7 percent of Canada’s federal budget is spent on its armed forces, which are intended to evolve toward greater flexibility, mobility, and affordability. The Canadian armed forces are unified rather than being divided into an army, navy, and air force. The head of the armed forces is the chief of the defense staff, who reports to the civilian minister of national defense. Under the defense staff are three major commands, organized by function: the air, maritime, and land force commands. Military service is voluntary, and there has been no conscription in Canada except for brief periods during the two World Wars. Conscription measures were unpopular and were soon repealed. Canada was a founding member of NATO in 1949, and until 1994 Canada had air and land forces stationed in Europe to support NATO. Canada also participates jointly with the United States in the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which coordinates the air and space defense of North America. On a per-capita basis, Canada is one of the world’s leading peacekeeping nations, having sent more than 85,000 service personnel to participate in various United Nations peacekeeping or supervisory operations since 1948. Occasionally the armed forces have been used in domestic affairs. The most notable of these incidents occurred during the October Crisis of 1970, when Prime Minister Trudeau deployed the armed forces to prevent terrorist activity in the province of Québec. The army has also intervened in protests by indigenous peoples, such as the armed standoffs at Oka, Québec, in 1990 and at Gustafsen Lake, British Columbia, in 1995. In the 1990s Canada reduced its military expenditures. Funding for the armed forces peaked in the early 1990s, at which time the military employed more than 120,000 people both in and out of uniform. By 1997 the numbers dropped to 61,600 for regulars and 28,700 for reserves. Funding, which was C$11.3 billion in 1994, is expected to decline to C$10 billion by the end of the century. In general, the military does not have a high profile in Canada. Military affairs have had little impact on politics since the conscription controversy of World War II. Recently, however, a public inquiry into misconduct on the part of peacekeeping soldiers in Somalia revealed several cases of abuse of foreign civilians, including the murder of a Somali man. During the investigation, officers and department officials were accused of trying to cover up the incident and of tampering with evidence, but the result was the disbanding of the Airborne Regiment involved and the resignations of two succeeding chiefs of the defense staff. A new minister of defense was appointed, and his decision to terminate the inquiry before its completion has been criticized by many. Foreign policy is coordinated by the Department of External Affairs and International Trade. Canada uses its influence to encourage democracy, the protection of human rights, free trade, and peaceful resolution of conflicts. These objectives generally coincide, but occasionally choices must be made among them. For example, Canada participated in economic sanctions against South Africa during the era of apartheid, placing the issue of democracy above that of trade. In the 1990s, however, Prime Minister Chrétien announced his government’s view that the most effective way to promote democratic movements and human rights is through increased trade, a policy that has drawn criticism from some groups but is well accepted by the business community. The new policy has also frustrated some of Canada’s allies. The United States, especially, disapproves of Canada’s continuing trade with Cuba in the face of a U.S. embargo. Tensions rose between the two countries in 1996 when the United States tried to enforce its Helms-Burton Act, which barred entry into the United States of certain foreign persons doing business in Cuba. Canada retaliated by passing the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act, forbidding Canadian companies from observing U.S. embargoes. As of mid-1997 the United States had backed off on enforcing Helms-Burton against Canadian firms, and Canada had yet to charge anyone under its own act. Foreign aid, including money, goods, expertise, and emergency relief, is also an important part of Canada’s foreign policy. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was formed in 1968 to manage Canada’s foreign aid program. In 1994 and 1995 Canada sent C$2.5 billion to the developing world, including direct donations to selected countries, as well as money given to United Nations (UN) organizations or to nongovernmental organizations in over 100 countries. The International Development Research Centre, set up in 1970, funds research into possible adaptations of science and technology for use in the developing world. Canada has always had a strong role in the United Nations, the umbrella organization for international cooperation and problem resolution. Canadian leaders have expressed the belief that cooperation and consensus among nations are the best hope for the future. Prime Minister Lester Pearson’s mediation in the Suez Canal incident of 1956 and his proposal for an international peacekeeping force won him the Nobel Peace Prize and boosted the role of peacekeeping forces around the world. Canada supports the UN in many ways: as its fourth largest financial contributor; as a participant in many UN aid organizations; and as the source of 10 percent of the world’s peacekeeping troops. Canada was involved in the earliest international peacekeeping missions—Kashmir (1948), Palestine (1953), Congo (1960), and Cyprus (1964)—and continues this tradition. Canada has placed a high priority on these missions, and in 1994 its troops were involved in peacekeeping operations, mostly as observers or monitors, in 21 different countries. Canada has also supported UN-led military interventions—for example, in the Korean War (1950-1953) and in the Persian Gulf War in Kuwait (1990)—but advocates earlier involvement to prevent active fighting. Canada belongs to a variety of major international organizations. One is the Commonwealth of Nations, which developed gradually after World War I as former British colonies gained their independence. Others, already mentioned, are NATO (1949) and NORAD (1957). Canada has enthusiastically supported the international associations for world peace and cooperation, first the League of Nations (1920-1946) and then its successor the United Nations (UN), of which Canada was a charter member in 1945. Other international groups that Canada has joined are the International Monetary Fund (1944), World Bank International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, (1944); World Trade Organization (formerly General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1948); Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (1961); L’agence de Cooperation Culturelle et Technique (1970); G-7 Summit (1976); Organization of American States (1989); and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation organization (1994). |
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